Miracle Pregnancy Scam In Nigeria- The Disturbing Case Of Selling Babies And Conning People.

A scamster can con you by offering any product or any service. Even they can use emotions to exploit people and target them. Take the example of Nigeria. Nigeria, a country in west africa, has one of the highest birth rates in the globe, with women being subjected to societal pressure to procreate, or else left to face ostracisation or abuse if they do not. Under such pressure, some women resort to extraordinary lengths to fulfil their desire of motherhood.

The scam.

A report by BBC Africa Eye has been investigating the “cryptic pregnancy” scam for more than a year. Scammers acting as doctors or nurses convince women that they have a “miracle fertility treatment” that will make them pregnant. The initial “treatment” typically costs hundreds of dollars and includes an injection, a drink, or a substance inserted into the vagina. This initial treatment costs 350,000 naira ($205; £165).

When BBC investigators went undercover as a couple looking for reproductive treatments, they discovered fertility clinics with bogus doctors claiming to help them conceive using an unusual therapy that cost a lot of money and included concoctions and injections. All of the ladies and authorities involved in the inquiry are aware of the drugs. However, several women have informed reporters that they caused physical changes in their bodies, such as bloated tummies, which confirmed their pregnancy.

Women receiving the “therapy” are advised not to visit any regular doctor or hospital since no scan or pregnancy test will identify “the baby,” which the scammers claim is developing outside the womb. When it comes time to “deliver” the baby, women are convinced that labour will only begin once they are given with a ‘rare and expensive drug’ which demands further money costing somewhere between 1.5 and two million naira ($1,180; £945).

Accounts of the “delivery” differ, but they are all disturbing. Some are anaesthetised only to awaken with a Caesarean-style incision mark. According to the BBC, some claim to have received an injection that creates a sleepy, hallucinating condition in which they feel they are giving birth. In either case, the ladies end up with the infants they were intended to give birth to.

But where the babies some from? At the end, everything about pregnancy was fake.

There unfolds the disturbing saga of selling babies. Abortion is illegal in Nigeria, hence fraudsters used this as a way to con people. To complete the “treatment”, the scammers need new-born babies and to do that they seek out women who are desperate and vulnerable, many of them young and pregnant, in a country where abortion is illegal.

The BBC obtained footage of the raid, which showed a huge complex made up of two buildings. In one were rooms containing medical equipment – apparently for clients – while in the other were several pregnant women being kept against their will. Some were as young as 17. Some tell us they were tricked into going there, unaware their babies would be sold to the scammer’s clients.

Many felt too scared to tell their family they were pregnant and sought a way out. One lady said she was offered 800,000 naira ($470; £380) for the baby. The Commissioner who has been part of efforts in her state to crack down on the scam, says scammers prey on vulnerable women like like her to source the babies.

Why such incidents happen?

Nelson Mandela said ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.  I add to this, ‘lack of education is also a powerful tool to change the world, but in opposite, backward and disastrous direction’.

There is a term called ‘Cryptic Pregnancy’ which is a recognised medical phenomenon, in which a woman is unaware of her pregnancy until the late stages. However, lack of proper education and misinformation have given fraudsters to use this term to con people exploiting both their emotions and their money. During the investigation, the BBC found widespread misinformation in Facebook groups and pages about this type of pregnancy.

One woman from the United States, who devotes her whole web page to her “cryptic pregnancy,” claims to have been pregnant “for years” and that her experience cannot be explained scientifically. In closed Facebook groups, multiple users use religious terms to praise the phoney “treatment” as a “miracle” for people who have been unable to conceive. All of this disinformation reinforces women’s trust in the scam. These groupings include members from Nigeria, South Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Scammers occasionally control and post in these communities, allowing them to contact women who are interested in the “treatment.” When someone displays a willingness to begin the fraud process, they are invited to more secure WhatsApp groups. There, administrators discuss “cryptic clinics” and the procedures involved.

Experts warn unless attitudes towards women, infertility, reproductive rights and adoption change, scams like this will continue to thrive.